Kamala Harris sparked outrage on social media when she implied that Black males wouldn’t be shot by police if they had jobs.
The California senator made the controversial comment during the 2019 President Justice Forum at Benedict College on Saturday.
“Talking about violence: nothing stops a bullet like a job,” she said.
Black and white Twitters were outraged.
“‘Nothin’ stops a bullet like a job.’ Because if black people would just get jobs, they wouldn’t get gunned down by cops,” tweeted one irate user.
Another Twitter user attempted to defend Harris by noting the original source of the comment.
For anyone still confused about @KamalaHarris saying nothing stops a bullet like a job–it came from her long-time friend @FrGregBoyle whom she's worked with on criminal justice reform pic.twitter.com/p9iurUecrM
— bravegirls stan account (@fourgunfire) October 28, 2019
Harris was already on bad terms with the college after she withdrew from attending the Second Step Presidential Justice Forum because President Trump received an award at the same event last week.
But she changed her mind following the backlash on social media. Harris was scheduled to speak at the forum at the HBCU alongside her fellow 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls.
She claimed she was offended because only nine Benedict students were invited to see Trump accept the award.
“I won’t be complicit in papering over Trump’s record,” Harris tweeted. “Once I heard Trump got an award at the Second Step Presidential Justice Forum and stopped HBCU students from attending, I decided to do my own criminal justice reform event tomorrow instead.”
In his typical non-presidential confrontational style, Trump responded:
“Badly failing presidential candidate @KamalaHarris will not go to a very wonderful largely African American event today because yesterday I recieved [sic] a major award, at the same event, for being able to produce & sign into law major Criminal Justice Reform legislation…”
Badly failing presidential candidate @KamalaHarris will not go to a very wonderful largely African American event today because yesterday I recieved a major award, at the same event, for being able to produce & sign into law major Criminal Justice Reform legislation, which will..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2019
….greatly help the African American community (and all other communities), and which was unable to get done in past administrations despite a tremendous desire for it. This and best unemployment numbers EVER is more than Kamala will EVER be able to do for African Americans!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2019